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Editor's Note: For an ESPNU logo and photos, go to http://media.espn.com/MediaZone/ESPNU photos.htm
For Immediate Release March 3, 2005
ESPNU TO LAUNCH FRIDAY, MARCH 4 College Sports Network To Feature Collection of Quality Event & Studio Programming
ESPNU, a new college sports network, will launch on "03-04-05" -- Friday, March 4 - with a two-hour live specialedition ESPNU College GameDay from Stillwater, Okla. at 7 p.m. ET. The debutshow, staged from the campus site of the next day's Texas at Oklahoma State men's college basketball game, will be simulcast on ESPN2. Event programming will be the cornerstone of ESPNU, highlighted by approximately 300 live events (regular-season and championships) in the network's first year. Action will include a variety of top Division I football and men's and women's basketball mixed with baseball, softball, volleyball, lacrosse, hockey, wrestling and more. ESPNU will also offer comprehensive studio programming, replays of ABC Sports, ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN Regional Television games, plus specials and more. ESPNU has secured distribution agreements with DIRECTV, Adelphia, several smaller affiliates and is close to distribution agreements with others. The 24-hour television network is the key component of the multi-media ESPNU initiative that will deliver college sports contentacross ESPN's family of services, such as ESPN.com, ESPN The Magazine, ESPN Mobile (wireless), ESPN Radio, ESPN Interactive, ESPN360 (broadband), merchandising and more Original Dream Job winner Mike Hall will serve as ESPNU's signature anchor, hosting the majority of the network's studio programming from Charlotte, N.C., headquarters of ESPN Regional Television (ERT) which will handle the primary production responsibilities for ESPNU. The debut ESPNU show will feature College GameDay commentators host Chris Fowler, analysts Jay Bilas, Digger Phelps, Dick Vitale and ESPN.com senior writer Andy Katz, in addition to Hall and ESPNU basketball analyst Doug Gottlieb. After the 7-9 p.m. College GameDay show, ESPNU will present its first live event telecasts - a men's semifinal game from the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament (Nashville, Tenn.) at 9 p.m. followed by a first round men's basketball game from the West Coast Conference Tournament (Santa Clara, Calif.) at 11 p.m.
Burke Magnus, ESPNU VP and GM, on some network programming highlights: "Football and men's and women's basketball have been ESPN hallmarks for 25 years, so clearly we plan to emphasize those mass-appeal sports on ESPNU. We will supplement them by showcasing regular-season and championship events from many emerging college sports. There are plenty of remarkable stories about athletes in sports that don't get a tot of exposure. We canadd texture to the network by bringing those stones to fans nationally."
Mike Hall, ESPNU signature anchor on what makes college sports special: "There is something different about the atmosphere in college games. There is a different connection that all of us have to our college teams. Maybe it's because we look at college as some of thebest years of our lives." ESPN.COM -30-